BLOG

UC-WVU LIVE blog

I was walking into Nippert Stadium today, and I was stopped by a West Virginia fan who obviously had been drinking for quite some time.

"Hey, you need tickets?" he asked.

"Nope, I'm good."

"I can sell you one for $3,000 if you want. Front-row seats. The face value is $3,000."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, $3,000."

Then, as he left my side to cross the street, he yelled over his shoulder, "By the way, I don't have any tickets."

Ah, those crazy Mountaineers fans.

First Quarter

John Goebel and his broken hand are on special teams. Jake Rogers blasts it out of the end zone. First play of the game, Noel Devine slips and loses a yard. Jarrett Brown options to Jock Sanders and gains two. It'll be third and nine at the WVU 21. Alex Daniels missed Brown, but he forces him to scramble and he's about two yards short of the first down. WVU to punt. That's how you want to start if you're the UC defense and you just gave up 45 points a week ago.

Zach Collaros is starting for the Bearcats. Isaiah Pead with a couple early carries. I wonder who'll be the man to back him up. Collaros has D.J. Woods across the middle, but WVU's Brandon Hogan knocks the ball away, bringing up a third and 4. Pead takes the pitch and gains seven yards. And 18-yard gain straight up the middle for Pead. Huge hole, good lord. Ball at WVU 28. Geez, that's deadly, Collaros has to scramble, the WVU defender who was covering Ben Guidugli has to come up and then Collaros flicks it to Guidugli for the first down. And then, sure bring in Tony Pike when it's first and goal in the 10-yard line; Pike then finds Armon Binns in the back of the end zone for the 10-yard TD. Impressive start for UC. It was like Pike was never gone.

UC 7, WVU 0 (9:56 to go)

Another touchback for Rogers. He must be feeling it. UC's DL looks fast tonight. Forcing Brown to release the ball quickly. It'll be third and six from the 34. Nice tackle by J.K. Schaffer. Brown hits TE Tyler Urban, but Schaffer stops him two yards short of the first down. Consecutive three and outs for the Mountaineers.

Collaros back in the game. There's your first fumble of the season. Collaros to Adrien Robinson, who has room to run. He also gets hit by WVU, and he fumbles the ball to the Mountaineers. WVU takes over at UC's 49. Not what you want to do if you're a TE who's just started seeing major action.

Nice pass from Brown to Bradley Starks to bring it to UC's 28. Aaron Webster with the nice tackle on Devine to lose two. It'll be third and six from the 24. Brown to Jock Sanders for the first down. That's a tough assignment for UC LB Andre Revels. Ball on the UC 12. Devine with a four-yard gain. John Hughes has a chance to get Brown at the line of scrimmage, but Brown makes him miss and he dashes in for the 8-yard TD. Except, they're going to review now. Play stands as called.

UC 7, WVU 7 (3:19 to go)

WVU is called for illegal formation on the kickoff. It'll have to rekick. Big gain for UC on the rekick. Gilyard brings it to the 34, but another illegal formation call. UC says, "Screw it," and takes the penalty on the backside. UC starts on its own 49. Robert Sands puts a nice hit on Pead; loss of 3. Collaros, under pressure, to Pead loses more, but UC called for a personal foul; slap to the head. Ref said 50, but we're guessing it was Jason Kelce. Collaros keeper makes it third and 17 from the UC 42. Collaros throws to Gilyard in double coverage - triple coverage if you count the sideline. UC to punt. Nice punt by Rogers. 49 yards and WVU takes over on the 9. Devine with a couple runs to bring it to the 21.

Second Quarter

First quarter stats: Devine with 25 yards on eight carries. Brown is 5 for 5 for 44 yards. Pead has six carries for 37 yards. Collaros is 3 for 6 for 50 yards.

It'll be third and seven from the WVU 27. Devine on the carry, he's about a yard short. WVU to punt.

Heck of a run by Pead, who's taken all the carries so far. He takes the end-around, and he's got a wide open lane on the left sideline. He jukes to make a couple Mountaineers miss and he's tackled at the WVU 23. That's a 48-yard gain. Timeout UC. Collaros goes back to Robinson, and Robinson drops it in the end zone. Not a great start for him. But remember last year, Kazeem Alli dropped an easy pass vs. WVU and then went on to catch the game-winner in OT. So there's that. Third and four and Collaros with the keeper. He's short by about three yards. That means it's Jake Rogers time, and he's not even close. Way wide right. Missed opportunity for the Bearcats. Robinson with two huge mistakes that have cost his team.

After a Wes Lyons catch, Aaron Webster hobbles off the field. Wes Richardson in to replace him. Brad Jones is excited about that two-yard loss tackle on Devine. He's all over the place. Third and 12 from the WVU 31. Great job of scrambling from Brown, who finds Alric Arnett for the first down. Too many missed tackles on that one. On second and inches, Devine runs into his man for a 1-yard loss. Third and 2 from the UC 37. Brown hands to Ryan Clarke who looks like he goes through the line untouched and scores the 37-yard TD. WVU with some momentum. WVU fans are making some noise.

WVU 14, UC 7 (8:05 to go)

First time UC has been behind since the first quarter of Oregon State. Another fantastic kickoff return by Gilyard. He brings the ball the WVU 42. He said this week that the WVU kick off team is better than last year. Hasn't looked it yet. Collaros to Binns for the first down and then a short two-yard pass to Darrin Williams. Collaros looks back on track. He's completed three straight passes on this drive. Ball on the WVU 14. Alex Hoffman called for a 15-yard facemask penalty. Makes it first and 25 from the 29. On second and 12, Collaros with a nice gain to the 3-yard line. Pike NOT in game. Pead takes the handoff and fumbles it at about the 1. WVU recovers. Another bad, bad mistake. Play is under review now. Uh-oh, now they're calling it a TD. Wow. Credit Pead with the 3-yard TD. Unreal.

UC 14, WVU 14 (5:26 to go)

Devine is starting to get scary out there. He's really, really close to breaking a long one. Then, Brown to Bradley Starks for the 14-yard gain. Ball at the WVU 46. Brown can't avoid the sack, and the ball is knocked from his hands. WVU recovers. They'll review to see. Nope, still a fumble. Costs WVU a timeout. Second and 19 from the WVU 37. Aaron Webster back in the game, BTW. Third and seven from the WVU 49. Brown in trouble flings it to Devine in the flat, but it's too hard and he can't hang on. WVU to punt.

UC will take over at the 10-yard line with 2:18 to go in the half. A score here would be huge, especially since the Bearcats get the ball to start the second half. Handoff to Pead that gains nothing. Collaros to Gilyard gains nine. Third and 1 from the 19 with about 1:10 to go. No hurry for the Bearcats. Pead takes the carry and gets the first down. UC timeout. First and 10 from the 27 with 1:06 to play. Collaros scrambles out of bounds for a six-yard gain. Not a great play from Collaros there. He threw past the line of scrimmage, but it doesn't matter because he tossed it into double coverage and Robert Sands comes up with the INT. Ball on the WVU 33 with 47 seconds to go.

Holding on WVU - or an OL tackle might be more appropriate. First and 20, and hand off to Devine. Gains 10 yards. 32 seconds to go. Revels tackles Devine after a 2-yard gain, and I'm guessing that'll be it for WVU this half.

UC 14, WVU 14 (halftime)

First-half stats: Devine has 16 carries for 59 yards. Brown is 10 for 13 for 116 yards. Brad Starks has three catches for 43 yards.

Pead has 10 carries for 100 yards. Collaros is 8 of 13 for 99 yards and an INT. Binns has three carries for 37 yards.

Third Quarter

Another nice gain from Gilyard on the KOR. Collaros will start at the UC 36. Two nice runs by Pead to start the second half. Ball on the UC 47. Nine more yards, five more yards. Collaros to Binns for the 11-yard gain. It'd be hard for Woods to get any more wide open than that. Collaros hits him at the 6 for the 22-yard gain. Pike back in the game. I guess that means another TD pass. Ooh, he almost Guidugli in the back of the end zone, but it's a little too high. Then, he throws the ball away. Third and goal from the 6. Pike with a gorgeous throw to a diving Woods for the 6-yard TD. That's the way UC wanted to start the second half. And for Pike, that's a 244.4 QB rating. Nice job to C. Trent for figuring that out.

UC 21, WVU 14 (11:07 to go)

Third and 6 from the WVU 22. Brown to Sanders for the nine-yard gain and the first down. Still, UC has done a pretty nice job on Sanders. After a zero-yard gain and a 1-yard loss by Devine, it's third and 11 from the WVU 29. Drew Frey breaks up the pass to force the incompletion. Or, you know, you could say he absolutely interfered. Lucky break for the Bearcats. UC will take over its 41-yard line.

Nice tackle by Julian Miller to halt Collaros for a 1-yard gain. Pass to Adrien Robinson, who's gang-tackled but holds onto the ball. Third and 3 from the UC 48. Really nice job by Joe Rhein to hold Pead's jersey behind the line of scrimmage until his teammates could arrive. Two-yard loss and UC to punt.

Ryan Clarke with his second carry of the night. The first went for 37. This one went for nine. Then, he gets the first down. UC linebackers having to do much work in order to contain the WVU running game on this drive. Clarke, Sanders and Devine have been strong on this series. Ricardo Matthews just will not let go of Brown and eventually gets the 9-yard sack. Then, a nice tackle by Brad Jones on Devine. It'll be third and 17 from the 49. Big pressure by the DL and Alex Daniels eventually tackles Brown after a short gain. WVU to punt. Nice punt. UC will take over at the 1-yard line.

Talk about balance. UC has 160 yards passing and 160 yards rushing. Dangerous play to call for a QB sneak when Collaros takes the snap in the end zone, but he escapes for a four-yard gain to end the third quarter.

Fourth Quarter

Collaros to Binns for the first down to bring the ball to the 19. Gilyard takes the inside screen and makes a big leap for a 7-yard gain. Collaros moves out of the pocket and lofts a nice pass to Robinson. A 27-yard gain to the WVU 37. After a 4-yard loss by Collaros, it'll be third and 14 from the 41. Incomplete to Gilyard. Collaros' last two passes have not looked good. UC to punt.

Man, on that first-down run by Brown, Dan Giordano gets leveled by Josh Jenkins. Clarke continues to hurt the UC defense. At this point, he's more dangerous than Devine. Mountaineers doing nothing but running on this series. That's six-straight, seven straight, runs. Two-straight runs by Sanders loses two yards. Third and 12 from the UC 48. Wow, Brown looked like Pat White for a minute there. That's a 23-yard scramble. After 10-straight runs, Brown is incomplete. Third and 9 from the UC 25. For some reason, they give it to Sanders straight up the middle. That's a bizarre, bizarre playcall. Fourth and 8. WVU going for it. Under intense pressure from Curtis Young, Brown throws toward the end zone, but incomplete. UC takes over on its 24.